FILM · 2016 · UK
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
- Directed by
- David Yates
- Runtime
- 133 min
- Studio
- Heyday Films, Warner Bros. Pictures
102 archived facts 7 topics 1 source Last reviewed Sep 2026
In 1926, Newt Scamander arrives at the Magical Congress of the United States of America with a magically expanded briefcase, which houses a number of dangerous creatures and their habitats. When the creatures escape from the briefcase, it sends the American wizarding authorities after Newt, and threatens to strain even further the state of magical and non-magical relations.
Summary: TMDB
75 Interesting Facts About Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
- #001
The name "Newt Scamander" appears on the Marauder's Map in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004).
- #002
In the Harry Potter universe, Newt Scamander's "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" was first published in 1927 and, besides being a bestseller, became an approved textbook at Hogwarts. By the mid-1990s the Harry Potter series had reached its 52nd printing. Scamander also has the honour of having his own Chocolate Frog Card.
- #004
A scene was shot showing a shirtless Newt Scamander with all the scars he had accumulated on his body while working with dangerous animals. Eddie Redmayne had trained considerably beforehand just for that scene. Unfortunately, however, the scene was cut from the final edit.
- #005
Before filming, Eddie Redmayne was given a very detailed backstory that J. K. Rowling explained to him alone.
- #007
J. K. Rowling stated that this film is "neither a prequel nor a sequel to the Harry Potter series, but an extension of the wizarding world." Newt's story begins in New York City seventy years before Harry sets out.
- #008
One of the characters shouts "Mercy Lewis!" At another point Tina Goldstein exclaims, "Why in the name of Deliverance Dane did you let that thing loose?" Mercy Lewis and Deliverance Dane were among those accused of witchcraft by their neighbours during the Salem witch trials.
- #011
Contains a major spoiler — show
The necklace Graves gives Credence is the symbol of the Deathly Hallows, like the necklace Xenophilius Lovegood wears in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010). This foreshadows the revelation that Graves is actually Grindelwald in disguise. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows it is told that Grindelwald and Dumbledore were obsessed with the Deathly Hallows. In the book it is specifically noted as Grindelwald's symbol during his reign of terror.
- #012
"Frank" is a Thunderbird. As detailed on Pottermore, the Thunderbird is one of the four houses of Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
- #014
In the 1920s, "muggles" was a slang word used in the US for marijuana cigarettes. This may explain why members of the American wizarding community call non-magical people "no-maj" instead of using this term.
- #015
Contains a major spoiler — show
During the "Interrogation" scene you can see the Deathly Hallows necklace in the pocket of Graves's jacket. This is a small hint at his allegiance and his true identity.
- #016
Although they were left out of the film versions, Harry and his classmates study both bowtruckles and nifflers in the Care of Magical Creatures class in the novels Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. This film marks their first appearance on screen.
- #017
Because very little of the decade's architecture still exists, it was decided not to shoot the film on location. Instead, the production designers created their own meticulously detailed version of 1920s New York City from scratch as a practical, physical set.
- #018
Contains a major spoiler — show
If you look closely at the scene where Newt first shows Jacob all the fantastic beasts he has collected, you will see a Grindylow inside a water bubble. These creatures appear in the underwater task of the Triwizard Tournament in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005). The books also note that Professor Lupin had one in his office while teaching at Hogwarts. It is the question asked of Harry in a later book (Deathly Hallows) to confirm that he really is Harry.
- #019
Contains a major spoiler — show
On 4 June 2015, J. K. Rowling confirmed on her Twitter account that Tina is short for Porpentina. In Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, in "About the Author", Newt Scamander is described as "now living in Dorset with his wife Porpentina and their pet Kneazles: Hoppy, Milly, and Mauler."
- #020
According to J. K. Rowling and Alison Sudol, they came up with the lyrics to the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry school song. Originally, before the climax, there was a scene in which Tina and Queenie sang part of the song to Newt and Jacob. However, the scene was cut from the final film.
- #021
It is possible that house-elves are free in America, as some elves are seen wearing normal clothes and being openly cheeky to humans without fear of retaliation. In the British wizarding world, house-elves are enslaved until their owners give them proper clothes, and they are forbidden from owning wands (though they can perform magic without wands).
- #022
In the novel Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Xenophilius Lovegood owns a Horn of a Crumple-Horned Snorkack that he insists is genuine. Hermione warns her friends to be careful about it because she is not fooled and knows that an Erumpent horn is prone to exploding. In the novel they realize she was indeed right. In this film, an Erumpent appears as one of the creatures Newt must recapture (resembling a rhinoceros that escapes into Central Park), and the species' explosive and generally destructive nature is depicted on screen for the first time.
- #023
Contains a major spoiler — show
Frank, the giant hawk-like bird Newt shows Jacob while touring his menagerie of fantastic beasts, is a Thunderbird. Thunderbirds are legendary birds in Native American folklore that create lightning and are summoned by thunder. This explains how Frank is summoned in his first appearance in the film and how he flies into the storm cloud at the climax.
- #025
J. K. Rowling wrote this book in 2001, and most of the profits were donated to the charity Comic Relief. More than 80% of the cover price of every book sold goes directly to underprivileged children in various parts of the world.
- #026
Carmen Ejogo insisted that her character Seraphina Picquery be left-handed, since left-handedness has been associated with dark magic and witchcraft for centuries. Ejogo suggested emphasizing this by adding rings to her dominant hand. Costume designer Colleen Atwood liked the idea, and many of the rings were created from scratch.
- #027
This is J. K. Rowling's first screenwriting credit.
- #028
Leta Lestrange, the love of Theseus Scamander, is most likely related to Bellatrix's late husband, Rodolphus Lestrange.
- #029
Eddie Redmayne cut his own wig himself, and he did it in the dark. He did this because Fae Hammond (the film's hair designer) believed Newt would often have to maintain it on ships and in other less-than-ideal conditions. Hammond handed the bewildered Redmayne a rusty kitchen pair of scissors and instructed him to use them in a nearby closet.
- #030
Contains a major spoiler — show
Credence presumably died at the end of the film when his Obscurus form was destroyed by the Aurors. However, according to David Yates, they shot a scene in which Credence is still alive afterwards, but later deleted it because the other producers had not yet decided on the character's direction in the sequels. In the finished film, however, Newt still sees a small black something escaping, indicating that the Obscurus was not completely destroyed. In 2018, Ezra Miller confirmed that they would return as Credence in the sequel Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018).
- #032
The film takes place in early December 1926, only a few weeks before Voldemort, the main villain of the Harry Potter films, is born in the books (31 December 1926). Since the timeline in the films was altered somewhat from the books, it is also unclear whether this is the same birth date in the films.
- #033
Ilvermorny is the name of the American school of witchcraft and wizardry, the counterpart to Hogwarts in the United Kingdom. According to a deleted scene, it is located in Massachusetts.
- #034
The records of Newt's expulsion from Hogwarts closely resemble Hagrid's expulsion in 1942, as detailed in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002). Both involve "accidents" concerning a dangerous, magical creature, but unlike Hagrid, who was framed by Tom Riddle, it is possible that Newt was rightly blamed. Another connection can be drawn between the two characters; Hagrid refers to himself as the "mummy" of the dragon Norbert, and when Newt approaches the occamy nest he says: "Mummy's here." Both characters are close confidants of Albus Dumbledore, who strongly opposed their respective expulsions.
- #036
Contains a major spoiler — show
Some have questioned the fact that Graves could sentence Newt Scamander and Tina Goldstein to death on the spot for mere negligence, with no objection from other ministry employees, while Grindelwald, who committed far more serious crimes, is merely imprisoned. However, it is very likely that Graves (who is Grindelwald in disguise) was acting on his own and made this spontaneous decision to quickly get rid of Newt and Tina, knowing that they too were after the Obscurus. Note that the wizards and witches present during the punishment and attempted execution appear unusually relaxed given the situation, suggesting that Graves may have placed a Confundus or Imperius curse on them to secure their unquestioning cooperation.
- #037
When Tina shows Newt her MACUSA card, many details can be seen. Most importantly, it shows her middle name: Esther; her MACUSA identification number: 240274; and her date of birth: 19 August 1901. It is much harder to see the details of Newt's passport, but the following information can be made out: born in 1897; middle names Artemis Fido; last left Britain on 16 June 1923; passport number #600427.
- #039
Contains a major spoiler — show
The subway stop at the end of the film is believed to be the old City Hall station, which was closed in 1945. The station still exists and can be seen if one takes the 6 train to the last stop (the current City Hall station) and then stays on the train as it turns back toward downtown. Tours of the station are also held several times a year.
- #040
Contains a major spoiler — show
According to the actors, in an interview with Entertainment Tonight for the 2018 comic, they did not record any actual scenes with Johnny Depp for this film and did not know he had been cast as Grindelwald until it was revealed later in post-production.
- #042
A large portion of the film takes place between December 6 and 8, 1926.
- #048
This is the first film in the Harry Potter film series not based on one of the main novels. The book was created to benefit Comic Relief in the United Kingdom and was inspired by the fictional textbook of the same name featured in the Harry Potter novels.
- #049
In 2011, producer Lionel Wigram came up with the idea of making a one-off mock special documentary featuring Newt, in the style of documentaries by famous naturalists such as David Attenborough, Steve Irwin and Jane Goodall. When Wigram suggested this to his producer friends, according to David Heyman and J. K. Rowling, it inspired Rowling to write a feature-length screenplay. Moreover, she already had several new stories from the wizarding world in mind (at one point she considered making an anthology of short animations based on The Tales of Beedle the Bard). Heyman said in September 2016: "Lionel came up with this idea. Jo got it. She said, 'Well, funnily enough, I've already been thinking about something,' and the whole idea came to her somehow. I mean, it changed and developed over the year and a half that followed. But she knows how each piece connects to its own universe."
- #050
The Hogwarts image that appears in the Daily Prophet is archive footage from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007).
- #051
In the About the Author section of the Comic Relief version of "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them," it is stated that Newt graduated from Hogwarts. In the film, however, Graves mentions that he was expelled.
- #053
Although the film's "mooncalves" are generally very cute and good-natured, the name has a somewhat unfortunate origin. A mooncalf is a "monstrous birth," generally associated with the abortive fetus of a cow or other farm animal. The mooncalves in the film resemble a deformed calf that in real life would probably be aborted or would not survive birth. "Mooncalf" is also slang for a foolish or naive person, which may be one reason the big-eyed, innocently naive-looking creatures are named this way.
- #055
As the egg cracks in the nest, right after Newt materializes, "Hedwig's Theme" can be faintly heard underscoring the scene.
- #056
The New York City dock scenes were actually filmed at Cardington Hangars in Bedfordshire, England, also known as The Sheds.
- #057
300 builders and craftspeople spent four months constructing the 1920s New York set at Leavesden Studios.
- #058
Contains a major spoiler — show
When MACUSA arrives, a torn wanted poster of Gellert Grindelwald can be seen next to the poster of Tina and Newt in the bar scene.
- #059
Contains a major spoiler — show
America's magical inhabitants refer to non-magical people as "No-Majs." However, the American term for a Squib (a person born into a wizarding family without magical powers of their own) is unknown. Graves/Grindelwald calls Credence a "squib," but since Grindelwald is actually European this reveals nothing, as he is the only person in the film to use that term for a non-magical person born into a magical family.
- #060
There was a deleted scene in which Colin Farrell's character, who is "cramped down in a corner" in his office, has a vision while partly naked. This vision was later referenced in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. In the end, that scene was also cut.
- #061
In interviews with the cast on the two-disc DVD set, it emerged that Eddie Redmayne was nervous about meeting J. K. Rowling, despite having won the Best Actor Oscar for The Theory of Everything (2014).
- #062
Contains a major spoiler — show
Johnny Depp, an American, plays the European (probably German) Gellert Grindelwald, while Colin Farrell, who is Irish and therefore European, plays Percival Graves, Grindelwald's disguise as an American.
- #063
The film takes place 54 years before Harry Potter is born and 65 years before he begins attending Hogwarts.
- #066
At one point Newt appears in the column between two platforms in the subway. This echoes the entrance to Platform 9 3/4, the gateway to the Hogwarts Express.
- #067
Contains a major spoiler — show
Although the character Gellert Grindelwald is probably German, he was played by two British actors, Jamie Campbell Bower and Michael Byrne, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010), and by Irish actor Colin Farrell and American actor Johnny Depp in this film.
- #068
Contains a major spoiler — show
A subtle hint that Graves is actually Grindelwald is that both have the same distinctive undercut at the back of their heads.
- #072
Contains a major spoiler — show
The character of Credence Barebone resembles the title character of Carrie (1976). Both characters are seen as outcasts in their societies and live with an abusive parent or guardian (an adoptive mother in Credence's case and a biological mother in Carrie's case). They also both possess a powerful magic that, while terribly destructive, manifests when they are stressed or angry (fed by suppression and Obscurial in Credence's case and by anger in Carrie's case).
- #073
It is the first film in the Harry Potter Wizarding World series not to be shot on 35mm film.
- #074
In Senator Shaw's campaign speech scene, the giant poster on stage closely resembles the giant poster in the campaign speech scene in Citizen Kane (1941).
- #075
When Jacob Kowalski shows the bank manager his plans for his bakery, a brief glimpse of the prospective store is shown, and you can see that the bakery in the plans is named J. Kowalski; some believe this resembles J. K. Rowling's logo.
- #076
Contains a major spoiler — show
After Newt and Tina jump from the execution chair, Tina is caught by Newt, and the two hold hands and do not let go until they meet Jacob and Queenie.
- #077
In Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007), Eddie Redmayne (Newt Scamander) played Anthony Babbington, Samantha Morton (Mary Lou Barebone) played Mary Stuart, and Rhys Ifans played Robert Reston. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010), Ifans played Xenophilius Lovegood, a role J. K. Rowling confirmed was a distant relative of Newt Scamander.
- #078
Ezra Miller, who plays Credence, played the stepbrother and closest friend of Emma Watson's character in The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012).
- #079
As Kowalski emerges from the frozen river, he walks in Chaplin's classic, comedic style.
- #080
One of the musical themes played throughout the film contains the same melody used several times in Peter Pan (2003), composed by composer James Newton Howard. In that film, Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy) played George Darling and Captain James Hook.
- #081
The scene in which Newt Scamander and Jacob Kowalski try to catch a creature at the zoo and on the frozen lake pays tribute to the films of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy.
- #082
It received a limited 70 mm theatrical run.
- #084
Dan Fogler (Jacob Kowalski) and Samantha Morton (Mary Lou) both appeared in The Walking Dead seasons 9 and 10.
- #085
Tina's MACUSA identification number is 240274. This is the birth date of Eduardo Lima, a wizard tracked by the Ministry of Magic in 1997 while it was under Death Eater control. Eduardo Lima is also the name of a graphic designer who worked on Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) and subsequent films.
- #087
One of the newspapers jokingly asks whether "Soccer" is how No-Majs play Quidditch.
- #088
The newspaper headlines change from "Central Park Wreck" to "Wettest November Ever."
- #089
It is Faith Wood-Blagrove's first film.
- #090
It is the first Wizarding World film shot on Panavision (anamorphic) and shot digitally. All previous Harry Potter films had been shot using the Super 35mm format.
- #091
Colin Farrell plays "Percival Graves," which is also the name of Sir John Hurt's character in King Ralph (1991). Sir John Hurt played Ollivander in the Harry Potter series.
- #092
Samantha Morton and Colin Farrell both appeared in Minority Report (2002) and Miss Julie (2014).
- #094
The house-elf bartender at Gnarlak's Speakeasy mocks Jacob's claim that his uncle was a house-elf. Jacob is unaware that house-elves are a different species and therefore cannot be related to humans. Harry Potter fans will also laugh at Jacob's blunder. In America, people often say "My uncle's a…" in such situations when they feel awkward, which is what Jacob does as an American. His mistake is understandable, since he is a No-Maj (Muggle).
- #095
Contains a major spoiler — show
It is Colin Farrell and Johnny Depp's second collaboration since The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009).
- #096
Alison Sudol (Queenie) and Josh Cowdery (Senator Shaw) share the same birthday: December 23.
- #098
Contains a major spoiler — show
Johnny Depp and Samantha Morton had previously appeared together in The Libertine (2004).
- #099
Colin Farrell and Jon Voight had previously appeared together in Pride and Glory (2008).
- #100
The prominent SQUIRE'S sign on the roof of the building where four characters come together is never explained.
- #102
With this film, the Wizarding World series passed $8 billion in global box office revenue, becoming the second film series to reach that milestone after the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
Sources for the entries on this page
- IMDb IMDb
Information from external sources is independently selected, consolidated and edited by Arka Evren. Sources are listed for verification and further reading. Encyclopedia text is used under its licence (CC BY-SA). How we work